First European Settlement in Rhode Island: Providence (1636)

The first permanent European settlement in present-day Rhode Island was Providence, founded in 1636 by Roger Williams.

Context

• Roger Williams: Puritan minister, banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony (Oct 1635) for "new and dangerous opinions" – separation of church/state, fair dealings with Natives, opposition to oaths.
• Winter 1635–36: Lived with Wampanoag (Massasoit) at Sowams.
• Spring 1636: Purchased land from Narragansett sachems Canonicus & Miantonomi at Moshassuck ("place of the marsh grass"). Named Providence ("God's merciful providence").
• Governance: Majority-rule civil compact (not theocratic) – "liberty of conscience" for all. First Baptist church in America (1638).

Other Early Settlements

• Portsmouth (1638) – Anne Hutchinson followers (Antinomian Controversy), Aquidneck Island.
• Newport (1639) – Split from Portsmouth; major port.
• Warwick (1642) – Samuel Gorton (Shawomet Purchase).
• 1663 Royal Charter united them as "Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."

Williams' 1636 Providence planting established the first government in history with separation of church and state—a radical experiment that became a cornerstone of American liberty.